


Nous Avons Vécu

by Saturnsdarkness



Category: Ever After (1998)
Genre: Coming of Age, Conspiracy, F/M, Happy Ending, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Missing Scene, Not Beta Read, Running Away, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27449743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturnsdarkness/pseuds/Saturnsdarkness
Summary: Without Jacqueline, there would have been no happy endings for anyone.~Missing scene between the "rescue" and the banishment~
Relationships: Danielle de Barbarac/Prince Henry (Ever After), Jacqueline De Ghent/Laurent (Ever After)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	Nous Avons Vécu

Nous Avons Vecu

Jacqueline de Ghent knew it would happen.

Danielle would be absent, and she would take her place in doing all the tasks that fell neatly into the category of “things mother didn’t want to do” and “things a marriageable noble daughter could do.” One of these things was being available for the servants late after dark when they had to see a lady of the house.

She wore a sleeping robe over a chemise because she knew it would embarrass her mother to see her daughter greet visitors in such a state. The future household servants, if they could afford anymore, would see them all in undignified states regardless. Why not create the environment now?

Paulette didn’t bat an eye. “I'm sorry Madam. He would only speak to-well-”

“It’s fine. Where is he? What is his name?”

“Captain Laurent, in the sitting room, Ma’am.” 

The proper thing would have been to keep Paulette near to be a chaperone. Words didn’t leave Jacqueline’s mouth fast enough, and she was left alone, with a briefly awakened and newly hired door servant that was a little older than a boy. 

He had to sleep in uniform. The only change was the collar from his undershirt sticking out unevenly from the velvet details. She saw a royal carriage outside, subdued, but royal regardless. Jacqueline did not fidget with the end of her braid. She really wanted to.

“I, uh,” Captain Laurent cleared his voice. He was nervous. Jacqueline loved that about him, because she wasn’t alone, and-her thoughts digressed. 

“Prince Henry requests your attendance.”

“Just me? Should I get-?” He moved quickly to take her hand. His other hand covered her mouth and she went red from the neck up. She hadn’t had time to consider them, when “-Please don’t.” He pleaded. Clearly he forgot his script but retained his orders. 

“We know Pierre Le Pieu has her.” A surge of anger, frustration, and everything else she didn’t have words for came up through her toes. 

“She did impersonate a noble but you will not find her just to embarrass her further. She is in more hell than anything the King could come up with.” And it ate Jacqueline. The guilt gnawed at her but she had no idea what to do, if anything could be done. Technically she was even a noble born but nothing could make her station higher than what she sunk to. Not until-no. Jacqueline didn’t want her mother dead. The inheritance would be a bloody fight with Marguerite and her future noble husband. Something warmed in Captain Laurent’s eyes. 

“We do not want to terrorize her. She is freeborn. Her stepmother is untouchable but Danielle can be out of her reach.” Jacqueline still questioned the protectiveness she hadn’t dare realize before, but she could do this. “He ruined her. Leave her in peace. She never wants help.”   
Jacqueline shooed the door boy away and opened the door. “Leave.” 

Captain Laurent didn’t rush, nor push past her. He said nothing. He held his hand out to her. She moved without thinking, and gave it. The kiss was gentle, as was the gaze. “We mean the best. He knows he wronged her.” A sound deep in the house-presumably Louise, gave a very quick choice to Jacqueline. Marguerite slept like the dead. Nothing would ever dare to harm her. Her mother was a different story. She could smell a scandal. 

Jacqueline quickly closed the door behind her and turned her hand in the captains. She dragged him with a careless sense of immodesty around the corner of the house in case whoever checked the window. Captain Laurent followed and froze next to her, hidden below a window sill high above. They couldn’t look at each other. 

She’d become a greater wreck than she wanted to be. Slowly his hand crept to loosely clasp two of her fingers. 

“We need a witness tomorrow, or the next night, or however long it takes her to leave the new ‘master’.”

“Witness.”

“If she agrees, they will wed.” 

A thrill of excitement chased her nerves. This was a chance for each of them, even if Jacqueline didn’t always deserve it. 

“How will you send word?” They agreed to pass through a discreet servant, who would pose as a servant looking for work if need be. Jacqueline agreed. 

He smiled and met her eyes like they did over the banquet table. It was wrong for her to grab him and pull him towards her. It was wrong for her to kiss him. It was twice as wrong for him to kiss her back. He spoke in a whisper. “Perhaps there’ll be a third, when this is all said and done.” 

~

It was easy to be overlooked by the rest of her family as the next few days passed by. She had been dismissed in her mother’s eyes as soon as Marguerite revealed herself a beauty, like their father, and Jacqueline grew to resemble her twice widowed mother. 

Besides, Jacqueline was instructed to run the house as Marguerite and the Matron of the house visited court. Their egos spun the rumors that the Prince was still looking for his bride and ran from the altar, because he really wanted to marry her beautiful, blond sister. 

In the end, it was easy to pack her own bag of sentimental objects and the money she had for whatever reason hoarded in small quantities. She wasn’t attached to the grounds like Danielle was. Perhaps it would be social suicide, but Jacqueline wasn’t sure whatever her mother wanted for her was any better. She did know she wasn’t built to run away into the woods. She was aware of her own limitations. 

The servant didn’t need to be discreet at all when she was told. A hushed meeting between Monsieur Pierre was her first sign that Danielle wasn’t “breaking” easily, and a hurried note to a very angry Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent led to a quick selling of some candlesticks and other treasures. 

The discrete carriage and Captain Laurent met her after sundown behind the house. There was an option to sit in the back like a proper lady, but the seat next to him was too inviting. The excitement of the moment should have been a distraction, but for the first time in a very long time, Jacqueline felt a weight off her shoulders. 

“Could you teach me how to drive them? What are their names?” She gestured to the horses. It was really appropriate that she decided then and there, she wanted to learn how to ride. It wasn’t unheard of. Captain Laurent explained over the brick roads but wouldn’t allow her to drive yet. Tonight was too important. 

The personal Chateau of the royal family was even darker than she expected. It was like a home, in this wing, and no one wanted to be bothered for a time. 

The royal chapel felt endless as they snuck between pews. The only light was outdoor light posts and the occasional lantern of a guard. A discrete shelf swung open into a fantastic hall of portraits and gold that overlooked a garden. Strangely plain doors lined the rest of the hallway past the gardens. The large number of guard presence told Jacqueline that this was clearly a location of great importance. 

A valet greeted them through one archway in a cotton and silk dress. “Is she for the Madam Du Barbarac?”

“Yes. This is Madam De Ghent, Jacqueline.” He turned to her before leaving. “I’ll see you on the other side.” His smile was a secret between them in itself, but worse. She threw herself at him. 

The valet with the slight wrinkles around her eyes and a controlled smile met Jacqueline’s .

“She’ll be happy to see you.” 

The apartment was too large for a single person, but had to accommodate nearly the largest bed Jacqueline had ever seen. Small rooms went off to the side with clothing and other personal objects. Seating overlooked the gardens. Candles and lamps brightened the silhouette of a brunette woman in a dressing gown, sitting still among several servants fluttering around her. The bright contrast hid the mannequin in the corner.   
A gown of red, blues, and gold trim glinted in the candlelight. Gold thread created flowers and fleur-de-lis down what Jacqueline surmised would be a train. 

“You came.” Danielle looked at her in the mirror. Jacqueline looked back, astonished at what a proper make up procedure and a handful of maids could transform her cinder burned sister. 

“I...yes. I’m sorry.” There were many more words that needed to be said, but they would come later. Danielle tripped over her own sitting bench and scattered the maids. A perfumed, singed curled form of her sister approached quickly and threw her arms around her. Jaqueline relaxed after a moment. Her mother wasn’t tactile with her after she reached the crudely mocked “ugly years.” 

“It’s okay. Thank you.” 

The wedding was surreal. Prince Henry hadn’t seen her since Danielle-no, the newly titled Countess Du Barbara-since she said yes and honestly it was entirely different than the failed wedding of the Spanish princess. The same dark chapel was lit up by candle and covered in an unexpected amount of flowers. 

The pope waited for them. The Queen Marie and King Francis sat on one side. Captain Laurent stood behind Prince Henry. She was beside Danielle and it felt weird. A sudden formal affair wasn’t a shock to anyone else besides her and Danielle. Danielle had a little bit longer to acclimate. They had even found a gown to fit Jacqueline with some tightening, while Danielle gave her a sympathetic smile. “I had 4 hours of pins and a back panel to make this fit. This was the Queen’s. She was much smaller than I.” For the Queen’s dignity, the last part was whispered. 

The affair was in Latin but entirely about love. She didn’t need to be fluent to watch them gaze at each other like it was the first time they saw the sun. 

Before dawn, Jacqueline was back in her old home with a huge secret and a bigger desire to leave and never come back. Their third kiss had led to a fourth, but time was not on their side. That night, she found a note in her bag. It was half emptied with every intention of moving to the position of a lady in waiting for Princess Danielle but the courts needed time to save dignity. 

“I will be able to get the words out, but not now. Not the first time. Will you marry me?”

Captain Laurent’s handwriting stared up and her and Jacqueline cried. When Marguerite asked about red eyes, “I was cutting an onion.” Louise had the good grace to suppress her snort. Jacqueline couldn’t identify an onion before it was cut and everyone with a brain knew that. 

His “invitation” to Baroness Du Ghent couldn’t come soon enough. It was a hassle to look presentable, but she demurely curtsied a few paces behind her mother. Jaqueline heard him out. When her mother and Marguerite practically ran to get ready, they left her to shut the door, “Yes.” She met his eyes and smiled. 

One word. His eyes lit up. Clearly he understood. 

~

The banishment of her mother and sister was one of the best moments of her life. The royal family that now included her step-sister had welcomed her easily and buffered her mother’s barbed insults. The betrayal and disgust in Marguerite’s pretty blue eyes made Jacqueline’s pending victory all the more sweeter. 

And Danielle’s victory as well. She got a pretty good deal with this. 

Captain Robert Laurent and Jacqueline du Ghent was married in the gardens in a slightly more prepared fashion than the royal wedding itself. Seeing the crowned prince Henry standing as his captain’s witness nearly made her question reality , until her newly crowned princess of step-sister reminded her that “fair was fair.” All decked in silks and velvets, it was surreal and she knew she’d wake up from this dream eventually. 

(She didn’t, nor did Danielle.)

Robert asked her again when they renewed their vows 10 years and 3 children later. It was romantic and perfect.

But that wasn’t why she smiled. She smiled because she felt Queen Danielle’s eyes on her with a young princess on her own hip discreetly watching from the other side of a garden hedge. She smiled because the poison her mother and sister had instilled with her was finally purged. There was hope.

They made it. They lived. 

~

I own nothing! Any historical inaccuracies or strange period era clothing styles were brought to you by inadequate research to keep this to the point.

Thank you for reading!

Sds


End file.
